GOP primary challengers pushing further to the right

Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t on the ballot next year, but as candidates meet Monday’s filing deadline for Republican primaries, he appears ever-present.

Cruz’s tea party-fueled, come-from-behind trouncing of David Dewhurst in the Senate race last year has provided him a gravitational pull that is moving GOP candidates further right and producing scores of would-be first-time officeholders.

“You’ve got two things happening,” said Republican political consultant Bill Miller. One of them is the “Cruz phenomenon, and he is the phenom at this moment,” he said.

“The other is that conservatives believe that if they’re going to succeed — with the Democratic administration in Washington and the Obamacare fiasco — that this is the year,” Miller said.

As statewide Republican candidates stake claims on being the “true conservative” in their races, their campaign videos and mailers are devoted to gun rights, shrinking government, tea party endorsements, fighting Washington and slashing spending.

But even in the contest for governor, where front-runner Greg Abbott promises to be more conservative than current standard-bearer Rick Perry, the attorney general is finding opponents tacking to his right.

He faces challenges from former radio host Lisa Fritsch and Secede Kilgore, whose legally changed name says it all.

“Everybody is running to the right: incumbents, challengers and the like. That’s the flavor of the season,” Miller said.

The lineups for the March 4 Republican and Democratic primaries will take shape Monday evening, as candidates must declare whether they’ll run for federal, state and county offices.

Democrats sense an opening next year with moderate voters, particularly women, as the GOP pushes further right. The party, shut out entirely of statewide office since the 1990s, has few seriously contested primaries. But Republicans will be heavily favored in each of the contests and certain to retain control of the Legislature and a majority of the congressional delegation.

Meanwhile, in Dallas County and elsewhere, many Republican incumbents in congressional and legislative races are facing challengers in the March primary. Those who had been holding high the conservative banner are finding their bona fides questioned and their experience recast as entrenchment.

For instance, U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, the chairman of the powerful Rules Committee and one of the most conservative members in Congress, faces a challenge from tea party leader Katrina Pierson of Garland. Pierson was active in Cruz’s Senate campaign.

In state Senate races, Don Huffines, a businessman making his first run for office, is challenging John Carona.

Huffines calls himself “a true conservative” and dismisses the 13-year legislative veteran as “a career politician.”

Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville, a physician, is credited with pushing for tougher abortion restrictions, lawsuit limits and crackdowns on child predators. He faces Bob Hall, a semi-retired businessman who has never held office and bills himself as a tea party constitutional conservative.

Five Dallas County House seats held by Republicans have contested primaries, while all incumbent House Democrats are unopposed.

Republican pollster Mike Baselice said that a dozen years ago, Republican candidates often billed themselves as Christian conservatives. But such candidates have largely given way to those prioritizing anti-government credentials.

“The interesting thing is that they share a lot of the same beliefs as the incumbents. But they’ll try to emphasize the one or two things that differentiate them, which is what campaigns are about,” Baselice said.

He said the challengers are confident, using social media well and putting together solid campaign teams. They are motivated by the vision of upstart Cruz, though his federal campaign was well-funded in a way theirs may not be.

“With the tea party, they meet, they have a common enemy in government, but they don’t necessarily have a lot of financial resources,” Baselice said.

That money is necessary to present a compelling message.

“Without FreedomWorks, there’s no Sen. Ted Cruz,” he said of the conservative group that invested heavily in pro-Cruz ads last year. “You can’t get from 9 percent positive name ID in January to where he is today if you didn’t have the resources to tell your story.”

Rep. Jason Villalba, a Dallas Republican freshman who has escaped a primary challenge, said the contested races mark a crossroads for the GOP.

He said incumbents must embrace the opportunity to lay out their vision. “It’s a healthy way to defend our ideas and lay out your points,” he said.

Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Wade Emmert said there are several reasons for so many local GOP challenges.

“There’s a debate within our party about ideology,” he said. “And new folks want to get into elected office and the only way to do that is to challenge an incumbent.”

Challenging the status quo is necessary, said tea party leader Ken Emanuelson.

“It’s just not healthy for our system of government for politicians to go year after year without having to connect to the constituents and make their case for re-election,” he said. “A serious primary challenge forces the incumbents to get out, meet the people and listen to their concerns. I feel the same way whether I like the incumbent or not.”

Many of the new, emboldened candidates stepping into these primary races worked for and learned from Cruz’s campaign, he said.

“These candidates are bringing the skills and experience they gained helping Ted, and putting them to use challenging other incumbents. In every case, they’ll be heavily outspent, but these folks are political guerrillas,” Emanuelson said, predicting upsets in the primaries.

That could happen, but in the end, non-incumbents are long shots, said consultant Miller.

“You think you can get to the right of them. You can’t,” he said. “And they’re in office, and they’ve got money and they’ve got experience and they’re not going to get beat.”

Follow Gromer Jeffers Jr. and Christy Hoppe on Twitter at @gromerjeffers and @christyhoppe.

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